Satellite-to-cell service provider Lynk Global has appointed Dan Dooley as its chief executive officer.
Dooley, who was chief commercial officer at Lynk, has started the role with immediate effect, replacing Charles Miller as CEO. Miller co-founded Lynk in 2017.
As part of the leadership restructure, Miller will become Lynk's chairman of the board, while Dr. John M. Olson has also been named as president of strategic development.
Dooley has been at Lynk since 2021, during which time he has expanded the company's partnerships with several mobile network operators (MNOs) worldwide, including Rogers, Globe, TurkCell, 2Degrees, Spark, and Telstra.
“Lynk’s mission is to enable MNOs to eliminate connectivity gaps for all of their existing and new subscribers globally, expanding beyond the geographical and economic limitations of terrestrial cell towers,” said Dooley.
“As CEO of Lynk, our team will continue to build on our commercial success and focus on scaling our satellite development process – both are key to Lynk’s growth.”
Before joining Lynk, Dooley worked at Tomia, part of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Earlier on his career, he worked at AT&T and then Sprint, a telco which has since been acquired by T-Mobile.
During last year's Mobile World Congress event held in Barcelona, Spain, Dooley told DCD that satellites are crucial for telecoms connectivity, noting that they offer a more sensible alternative to cell towers in some instances.
Last month, Lynk partnered with Amalgamated Telecom Holdings Kiribati Limited (Vodafone Kiribati) to provide satellite direct-to-mobile phone services in the country.
The company has signed commercial agreements with more than 40 MNOs covering more than 50 countries, including Spark in New Zealand, Vodafone Ghana, Globe Telecom in the Philippines, Telecel’s Centrafrique in the Central African Republic, and Rogers in Canada.
Miller added: “As the co-founder of Lynk, I feel extremely fortunate to have built the team that discovered and invented satellite direct-to-standard-phone technology.
“We proved the technology, changed national and international policy, and created a new category within the satellite and mobile wireless industries that could impact the lives of billions. Dan [Dooley] is the right person to take Lynk into the next phase."
Miller has previously worked for NASA, where he was senior advisor for commercial space. According to his LinkedIn, Miller has co-founded other Space companies including ProSpace, Constellation Services International, Inc., and NanoRacks LLC.
